People often draw on the vocabulary of the art world to describe his architecture; sculpture, collage, installation and assembly are recurrent terms, which Frank Gehry must have become accustomed to by now. This happens not only because his buildings –think of the Guggenheim in Bilbao and the Experience Music Project in Seattle – have acrobatic and sculptural forms that challenge the limits of the materials employed but also for the influence that numerous contemporary artists have always exercised on his work.

This is illustrated in the exhibition installed at the Weisman Art Museum, starting from the beginning of his career. From 1962 when the Canadian architect opened his practice in Santa Monica to 1978 when his house, finally completed, started to attract the attention of the international press.

In all those years, the young Gehry lived and worked in close contact with the Venice Beach art community: Peter Alexander, Robert Graham, Ed Moses and Ed Ruscha were his sources of inspiration and professional growth. A mutual exchange that led both towards new areas of research into light, space and the use of new industrial materials. E.S.

Until 11.9.2005
West! Frank Gehry and the Artists of Venice Beach, 1962-1978
Weisman Art Museum
333 East River Road, Minneapolis
T +1-612-6259494
https://www.weisman.umn.edu